Friday, September 10, 2010

5W1H: The First Half of 2010

A good journalist is told to keep the "5W1H" mantra alive when writing an article. (No, that doesn't stand for "WWWWWuH?", although some journalists appear to act that way.) If one is expected to conduct an appropriate investigation into something, he or she is expected to ask:

What?

Who?

Where?

When?

Why?

How?

After a little bit of consideration, we here at AniMaybe felt that this system could be applied(with a little bit of tinkering) to our reviewing process for the anime we have watched over the past six months. After all, there have been shows that have been forcing us to ponder a lot of questions (as well as interjections and expletives), both good and bad.

What the...?

Where did...?

Who in the...?

When did they...?

WHY?

How the hell...?

Most of the time, the questions came when we were either flabbergasted or drunk on exhuberant energy, but in the end, we tweaked those questions further and came up with the 5W1H Awards for the First Half of 2010! (An experiment in critical thinking, perhaps, but an experiment nonetheless. It's something we just drummed up, so by all means give us ideas for modifying them.)

What?! - To be reserved for the double-take of the half-year (a.k.a. "WTF?!"). The show that left us speechless, either in a good or a bad way.

Who?! - The award for the best performance over the half-year. When we think about 2010, this is who left the biggest impression. Could be a character, voice-actor, producer, director, designer, etc. (Pretty broad, I know.)

When?! - Not necessarily meant for the best show of the half-year, this award is for the show with the least amount of hype that was so surprisingly good it left us wanting to know the time of its next arrival.

Where?! - Not necessarily meant for the worst show of the half-year, this award is for the show that had the biggest hype but disappeared from the map so quickly that we can't find it anymore.

Why?! - This should speak for itself. The award given to the one show that just didn't deserve to be animated in the slightest. Meant to be wailed toward the heavens like a pained Captain Kirk while one is crouching on their knees before the computer and begging for all that time back.

And How! - Not as much a question as it is a statement, but it fits the category. This is to be given to the one show that came out as the without-a-doubt BEST show of the spring and summer.

Your assignment, gumshoes, is quite simple: what anime TV shows run in Japan the last six months deserve these awards? We'll present our own in October, but we also ask for other reviewers out there to provide their own, either here in our responses section or on other review blogs!

1 comment:

I think Hiroshi Kamiya deserves mention for Who. Despite not appearing in the Summer season, he had starring roles in 3 shows at the same time in the Spring: Angel Beats!, Arakawa Under the Bridge, and Bakemonogatari. At the same time, he played major roles in 2 more shows: Durarara!! and Working! Speaking of which, Working! deserves the When award.